The West Frisian

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

() is a

Dutch dialect Dutch dialects and varieties are primarily the dialects and varieties that are both cognate with the Dutch language and spoken in the same language area as the Standard Dutch. They are remarkably diverse and are found within Europe mainly in th ...

spoken in the contemporary West Friesland region,

Wieringen Wieringen () is located in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Now a part of the municipality of Hollands Kroon, it was a separate municipality before 2012. Its name first appeared in 8th and 9th century records. By 1200 it was an i ...

Wieringermeer Wieringermeer () is a polder and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Since 2012 Wieringermeer has been a part of the new municipality of Hollands Kroon. Population centres The former municipality of Wier ...

, the coastal area from

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

Castricum Castricum () is a municipality and a town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Castricum is a seaside town in the province of North Holland. It attracts tourists who come mainly to visit the beach and nearby dune landscape. Lake ...

, and the island of

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

. It is a

Hollandic Hollandic or Hollandish ( ) is the most widely spoken dialect of the Dutch language. Hollandic is among the Central Dutch dialects. Other important language varieties of spoken Low Franconian languages are Brabantian, Flemish ( East Flemish, ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

dialect but is influenced by West Frisian (Dutch: ''Westerlauwers Fries'', a language of Friesland Province distinct from Dutch), which is related. The dialect in itself is not a fixed one, as there is a diverse number of subdialects (sometimes referred to as the West Frisian dialect group) that consists of some widely spoken regional dialects, namely Wierings in Wieringen, Tessels or Texels in Texel and the dialect of Vlieland known as Vlielands, which has fallen into disuse. The smaller regions and villages, such as Zijpe, Andijk, Enkhuizen and Schagen, have some distinct differences between them. Slightly more different from the rest of the group is Derpers, the dialect of the village Egmond aan Zee. The dialect descends from an older form of the

dialect. Only about 7-9% of the people speak the strong dialect or a mixture of strong and light. The light dialect is much more widely spoken but is also slowly beginning to become lighter and sound more like Dutch. Since the 1970s, there has been more interest in reading and writing the dialect. Little had been written before then, as it was mostly a spoken language by common people. The West Frisian dialect and Dutch have some common characteristics, including gender system, but most of the Frisian nouns have different gender features in contrast to those of the Dutch words.

References

{{Authority control Dutch dialects West Frisian languages

See also

References